Change is the only constant. People have been saying that since recorded history began. Heraclitus is known to have uttered it in 500 BC and I'm wondering why mankind hasn't adapted yet? I haven't. I'm still surprised and sometimes upset when I'm faced with change so I've been listening carefully to people who seem to be more evolved. I hope I'm learning something because the process of aging is all about change.

I love the tag line a local therapist uses: "Shift Happens." It reminds me that I'm certainly not alone in struggling to cope with some changes. It also tells me that our health/medical field makes a good dollar off man's inability to manage change. So does the drug industry. We may fail over centuries to adapt to the changing world we know we live in but, in doing so, we're supporting  jobs.

In fact, on the Internet I learned that change management is a big business. I could attend a 3 day seminar to earn a change management certificate for around $3,000. It sounds complicated. I'd learn to: define the change, prepare, develop a sponsorship model, conceptualize my plan and take action. It's no wonder executives earn millions of dollars to effect organizational change. According to change management theory they need to know about all kinds of things including Prosci's research, Nudge theory, the Johari window model. Change management theory though is about being in control of change; planning it.  The difficult nature of change is that we don't have control over it and I don't see any certificates offered for that.

The people I know who deal well with change don't develop models or plan their reactions. Most of them cope by understanding that they don't have ultimate control or by viewing control as an attachment of mind. That seems to work especially well for resolving big changes that shock or prompt a search for meaning. Faced with challenges like that, people of faith may take comfort in the workings of a higher power or renew confidence that life is part of a larger spiritual journey. Others may come to a resolve with the fact that man's power is limited as the Governor of Washington state did when he flew over the Oso Landslide, in March, and concluded, "Nature is in charge here."

Consciously or unconsciously we're dealing with changes all day long. Our lives, our environment, our thoughts---all things are constantly changing. "Shift happens." Life is fundamentally unpredictable. That's something we forget when we slide into a comfortable routine and our foundation stays constant. As we age, though, we never have to go farther than the mirror to be reminded. Whether we're aware of it or not, being alive is being a manager of constant change. Think of the experience we gain as we deal with all the variables of a day: the weather, our aches and pains, our family experiences, the things that break down or stand in our way, the strangers and acquaintances we meet, and the time that flies by minute after minute. We don't need a 3 day seminar and a certificate to prove our mastery. We're all skilled and accomplished change managers.

I have to believe that "Shift" doesn't just happen to me. Doesn't it also present new potentials or opportunities? Could it, for instance, make me stronger? Could it build self confidence if I coped better than I had before? Could it bring me closer to someone or something? Could I become more spiritual, more flexible, more self-aware in trying to manage the change? Centenarians who've lived much longer than I tell me that it's all in the way you look at it. "Go with the flow,"my older friends counsel. Shift doesn't "happen" Shift makes growth possible.

Every time I face change I either harness the wisdom of my daily experience as a change manager or seek help coping. I'm gradually improving that ratio: wisdom/seeking. Guides and older friends help by assuring me that I hold the ultimate trump card---the ability to change the way I look at the changes in my life. Sometimes I can play that card and sometimes it eludes me. One thing I know for sure....Shift happens. When it does I'm guaranteed another opportunity to improve.

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